Huge EE Lightning jet-turbine powered RC plane

A close-up look and two flights of this EE Lightning model which got nearly half a million views last time it featured on this channel. An impressive model.
Flown at the Tokoroa Airfield, NZTO, in November 2018

[@patches53]

Amazing. I served on 11 Squadron in 1973 as an Air Photography Operator at RAF Leconfield and RAF Luqa, Malta. I actually worked on the real XS904 when she was bare metal and my daughter Fiona sat in her cockpit at Bruntingthorpe in 2013 when she took me there for my 60th birthday. The rear panel on the fuselage the guys remove is almost the same place where the real Lightning’s visual recorder camera was located. Just below the radar bullet in the intake was a G.90 gun camera which was the same camera as the vis recorder and used the same 16mm cinefilm. I used to change the camera film magazines in both. It would be amazing to see if a miniature camera could be fitted in the nose without affecting the balance/handling of the RC model. The guy flying it has amazing skill. I congratulate you sir.

[@100SteveB]

Fantastic model, many hours of work went into that machine for sure. And beautifully video work once again Bruce. Amazes me how steady you are even zoomed in, considering your shaky hands it's even more impressive. Always a pleasure to watch.

[@hughjohnston]

As a x lightning man I can tell you that 11sqn Binbrook bird is spot on I can almost smell the avpin starter fuel once again .

[@modshaman]

Unbelievable! If I didn't see it with my own eyes ....... That thing just Floated in !!!!!!!! Superb Aircraft, excellent Videography! Thanks

[@davidrussell8689]

Impressive to say the least ! Nice video , great sound . Well done .

[@derekstocker6661]

What a superb model, what great photography making the video look as if it was a full size aircraft. Cannot imagine the hours and the skill that went into producing this wonderful gem! Thanks so much for this and fly safely!

[@stephenreeve3207]

I was fortunate enough to see Lightnings at, Mildenhall, Bentwaters, Wattisham, Coltishall and one or 2 others. An absolutely fantastic plane: where I lived at the height of the cold war, I've seen them a few hundred ft off the ground and you knew they were coming because you felt the air vibrating 1st, then you'd hear them once they were already over the horizon. British technology was way ahead of its time, like our space programme, which few nowadays know we even had.

[@philf2854]

I watch all of your vids and enjoy immensely but that one is going to take some beating. The landings were superb and that's something you don't see very often especially with jets.

[@TheSkskitey]

What a great plane , well flown and looked like perfect flying weather :-)

[@henrycoombe119]

amazing flying skills! looks so realistic

[@balsabreaker4272]

What a beauty and very well flown

[@jrbigboy1]

Wow!!! Looks great. Thanks for sharing

[@tonysansom]

A beautifully built & detailed model of this iconic British aircraft. Some nice shots, too, Bruce.

[@terryashe5106]

Wow!!! What a beautiful model..... Looks and sounds so realistic in the air. Nice touch with the brake chute. Great video..

[@bulwinkle]

I used to live near Wharton in the sixties where and when the real ones were made. We used to see them regularly making test flights and delivery flights. That engine note is pretty much the way that I remember it.

[@vonSchwartzwolfe]

Thanks that was enjoyable, and a awesome aircraft.

[@jaygdav]

Awesome! Thanks for posting...

[@angelreading5098]

Wonderful machine and properly flown as well.

[@jello3715]

Beautiful approach & landing!

[@jeepman012]

What a great pilot, Beautiful plane and the sound is awesome, thanks for filming and showing on the tube.

[@mikespeedyfpv321]

Epic plane amazing camera work 👌

[@ChongMcBong]

wow, what a monster. thanks bruce :)

[@carlwelch5944]

Nice model, well flown! Nice work Bruce

[@kevinjamesdawes7223]

Built one half this size. A real twitcher under power. But a lamb on finals. Just sits in its groove like any mid wing

[@mpoyart]

Amazing model.Congrts!

[@fatratvlog809]

Used to be one of these parked at my local airport in Rochester Uk for years! Great machine!

[@trentmarlowe7655]

Awesome. Love the Lightning 👌

[@lindsayhoward1493]

Takes me back to my days at Binbrook. Superb.

[@tlmarkmkj]

lovely model of a great plane

[@johntailing5283]

Stunning model of the worlds most beautiful jet , , , I want one! Beautiful

[@stephaniekent8483]

one of the best jet vids Ive seen :)

[@xjet]

Why thank you Stephanie :-)

[@sUASNews]

What's not to like, all manner of skills tied up in making and flying that. Wonderful wonderful wonderful

[@tramsgar]

nailed the landings 👍

[@ThStg]

What can I say FN AWESOME!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍 WELL MADE!!! & many, many hundred of hours building it & worth every single second of it. 😉 I'd ❤💕 to see this in real life but, sadly due to bad health travel is rather limited SADLY!!! So, KZbin is my oy freedom most of the time with the outside world.. But, many, many thanks in sharing this with many others.

[@Deadzone2024]

Absolutely superb

[@cvonp]

Gorgeous. Love the chute

[@RWBHere]

All it's missing are the twin afterburners, to give it those near-vertical take-offs. I really miss the Lightnings. They were flying from several aerodromes around here when I was a child.The best of it was how they made your whole body vibrate with the noise at liftoff. They could go from scramble to a 1200 ft cloud base within a minute, and then keep going straight up to more than 60,000 feet.

[@bradpierce]

Great vid! I love watching the rc jets. We have the Gardner Jet Rally every year here. All jets of all sizes. The first impression I had was some can fly so so fast. It's hard to visually track them as they make a low pass. gotta be upwards near 200mph.... Thanks for posting!!!

[@heiltd1286]

Amazing.

[@alexgrigoreas4825]

Wow. Beautiful

[@eyesofisabelofficial]

If ever you think the aircraft is too 'bouncy' when taxying then run the video at half or quarter speed, that's how Jerry Anderson did it back in the 1960's with 'Thunderbirds' and 'Captain Scarlet'.

[@allenmoore9848]

Beautiful air craft

[@paulriggs42]

Incredible

[@johnanderson5117]

Marvellous, from Whitby North Yorkshire.

[@CanadianDroneHub]

That's awesome thanks for sharing

[@warp65]

Absolutely brilliant, I half expected to see vapour over the wings when looped, so convincing was the flying I forgot it was an RC clip.I was watching.

[@xjet]

Thanks for the kind words.

[@chrisblyth6716]

Just to think English Electric from washing machines to this!! Amazing leap.

[@RawTopShot]

What a beaut! Great camera skills there Bruce 👍

[@nervo6321]

What a machine !

[@wordreet]

Superb!! Of course, I'm biased, being English. And as long as you can add the word "twin" to the title, I'll be happy as a sandboy. Well the model does have twin jet turbines after all. ;¬)

[@RedHeat]

You just cant beat the sound of a turbine jet engine ahhhhh

[@Ashley389100]

Amazing

[@mattyp80]

love the "Safety Officer" standing there with his fingers in his ears!!!!

[@properlytwisted2172]

A Beast!!

[@RobisonRacing68]

Good god!!! That's almost the size of a microlight

[@Leoholmes]

The plane looks top though!!

[@tamandua-rj7147]

man this thing is massive..

[@EleanorPeterson]

Tamandua-RJ Hah! I bet that's what you say to all the girls... ;-)

[@olliea6052]

Wonderful! Although i always have this nervous feeling watching expensive birds in the air. I don't know how people have the balls to do this!

[@opt123123]

It's a bucketlist/life goal to FPV something like this

[@kevalinopicks5555]

Superb! Can’t seem to find them on Banggood!

[@bobboo1319]

That's some Big ass plane

[@DerbJd]

This is interesting, XS904 is at Bruntingthorpe as part of the collection. Leicestershire isn't far from where I come from in the UK. Also have another one the same with reg mark XR728. :)

[@nigeh5326]

DerbJd and when they do taxi runs they are amazing and v v loud 👍. Bruntingthorpe is a great place to visit for a few hours when they have events on IMO.

[@firstpersonq2346]

Cool 😎

[@gloplg]

Very impressive. Truly a beautiful model!!!! I liked the way you were able to get the plane landing through someone's head too Bruce. That impressed me no end!!!! Was that Ron's head-:)-:)

[@digranni128]

4:07 very nice reality

[@UnbeltedSundew]

I don't understand how these guys can build a model twin jet-turbine airplane in their garage and still the landing gear doesn't seem to function correctly. Nice landings though.

[@paulchaplin73]

What a beautiful piece of engineering! Just a question though, can you reheat RC turbine engines? I’ve never seen it done. Can it be done? Is it a fuel consumption issue, or is it just too dangerous to achieve with a model aircraft?

[@stevenmales]

skills

[@rodyoung276]

If a jet accelerates and there is not camera person to edit does the jet accelerate into the air? Well done Bruce for getting returns on tokoroa airfield for the community that pay for its administration.

[@deanrobert8674]

Quality footage only wish there was a build brake down with the man who built it.

[@jeffvenable3845]

Wow. If i built that...i dont think i could ever fly it. Did he say how much he had invested? Really beautiful

[@richardpoynton4026]

WOW! Some questions - was this scratch built, or a kit? What happened with the undercarriage?

[@Johnn_T]

Richard Poynton I remember reading about this particular model and I think it’s scratchbuilt from plans available out of the UK....either that or it. Was scratchbuilt from a kit out of the UK? I can’t remember exactly but there was a write up on it in the MFNZ quarterly magazine we get sent here in NZ. Sorry my memory isn’t better.

[@0calvin]

I laughed a little when one of the retracts did not go up, just like so many of the smaller, cheaper models I've seen. It was good that one of them did not get stuck up instead. I would have cried at seeing that beast crash land.

[@moochasas]

Awesome but why wouldnt you long range FPV it or at least get an on board gopro video...... I know (& understand) that its a highly visible model for the crowd to see but.......... awesome machine and video.....

[@FlyingFun.]

Keep the pilot line of sight just in case but on board fpv with head tracking and a go pro to record too would be mint.

[@n7565j]

Bruce, to the best of your knowledge, is there a super sonic model out there in the wild??? Excellent video and a/c!!! Thank you :-)

[@xjet]

I am unaware of any recreational RC model that can exceed the sound barrier. It's actually quite a hurdle ;-)

[@blancsteve4819]

Grace in the air often translates into a spiffing war plane. Wot.

[@geordienufc3132]

Amazing what toys you can have if money is no object.

[@SolarWebsite]

While this magnificent aeroplane must have cost a ridiculous amount of money, I'm sure more than just money will have gone into its construction: things like a decade or more of aeromodelling experience, a year or more of building time, exquisite craftsmanship, no doubt a sizeable portion of frustration and lots of love.

[@EleanorPeterson]

Hi, Geordie NUFC - Yeah, no lie, bwana. Money no object? Trump bought the whole darned USA. ;-)

[@IanLanc]

OMG!

[@Jolly56Roger]

Love lightening's

[@agentbertram4769]

Does it have a dodgy undercarriage? One wheel seemed to stay down on the first flight. However, what a fabulous model. I want one!

[@TehMagilla]

The best kind of retrac failure to experience.

[@agentbertram4769]

For sure. The alternatives don't bear thinking about. @@TehMagilla

[@stephengloor8451]

Still amazes me that such huge and expensive planes don’t have autopilots. I am now so used to flying with them I forget most planes don’t have them.

[@iflyrcmike]

Stephen Gloor the fun is the full hands on control. These didn’t have autopilots as full sized. The challenge is the enjoyment.

[@stephengloor8451]

Guess so - however all these jet fighters have at least yaw dampers. If my planes lose the radio they RTL and then can autoland if they still have telemetry.

[@golemsnatch5755]

@@stephengloor8451 I could do with some of that, got any URL's for info.

[@SJMDronesMedia]

👍

[@Jusbcauz-nj2jw]

She looks and sounds spectacular. And not too shabby on the piloting skills if I do say so. scores a 99.9/100 loss of .1 cause I wasn't there. boo

[@garyhoffmann1615]

If I built something that bid I would go just a bit further and put a seat in it.

[@carrboro_chapelhillfpv2442]

I can't imagine how tight his backside is on take off and landing. I couldn't do it

[@exsappermadman25055]

That fucking thing is huge!, my dog wants a go inside it!.........

[@mickgibson370]

I thought that with 2 exhausts, one a rocket and other was a jet.

[@evo-labs]

If I built and owned a model like that I'd end up having a mental break down when it crashed. Oh to have money to burn...

[@stevesouthwick4211]

I remember watching the real aircraft flying out of raf Coltishall in the 1960s

[@davidwebb4904]

Large enough for small children, babies and dogs.

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day, Wow ! Question...? What's the definition of "First World Problems" ? Answer...(!). Having to lie-down, full-length, on the ground.., just(ifiably ?) to be able to look-up at the belly of one's Model Aeroplane ; while trying to determine precisely why one of it's two Turbojet Engines isn't quite whining exactly right...! (Tee-Hee, Chuckle-Chortle...; Giggle !). Take it easy, Such is Life...! ;-p Ciao !

[@Testpilottim]

First bro

[@Leoholmes]

FFS guys, you'll go deaf!! It's a fkn Jet. Just wear earplugs. The rest of the world is. Only you will suffer

[@skyforce1983]

Can somebody wake me up? That's clearly why I do FPV flying in circuits is boring as hell

[@EleanorPeterson]

So why watch, Joey? Personally, I like watching AND flying in circuits - both models AND full-size aircraft; going both clockwise AND anticlockwise; either daytime in sunglasses, or night-time on instruments. Circuits and bumps: it's bloody good fun. Anyhooo, I'm not here to try and convert you, so don't let me keep you awake. Go back to sleep and dream of shooting stuff. No, not FPV video, I mean shooting stuff with guns. You like guns, right? You shoot right-handed, judging by your picture. Killing's not boring if you switch around a bit - try some tricky left-handed back-of-the-head-shots. Upload some hat-cam FPV/NRA footage of your next school massacre - that'll get loads more views than some boring ol' giant scale aircraft going round and round and round and round...

[@skyforce1983]

@@EleanorPeterson hey I had this video on my channel private but since you want to see me shooting here ya go while your at it watch my other videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXaWZoeXjtZ7oK8 I've got more guns too